DELIGHTFUL DECEMBER

ZONE CONFERENCE: DAY 2

Elder Smith, our housing guy who calls himself the grinch. Bethany Hussey beside him.

Sister Smith asked President and Sister Stone and us to sing a quartet of "Guard Him Joseph" at zone conference. Sister Smith accompanied on the piano and Bethany Hussy (a YSA in our ward) on the flute. There were many beautiful musical numbers presented. The trainings were spectacular as always. We were invited to do a purification fast. (I won't forget the experience of this zone conference - included in my personal journal)

North Zones

South Zones

EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE TRAINING

Dec. 4, 2023 (19 - photo in 2 parts) Rockingham, Mandurah, and Baldivis Districts (group of 19 woohooo!)

Elders: Deskins, Ginn, Niutupuivaha, Mabey; Sisters: Pennington, Platt, Heelis; Elders: Gillespie, Bingham, Barnbrook, Stabler (rest in next picture)

Starting from middle: Elders Robison, Valdez, Thomas, Tamaiti; Sisters: Herrmann, Sanft, Fehoko, Crockett

Bunbury District (Dec. 4, 2023)

Us, Elders: Hill, Johnson, Switzer, Wade; Sisters Paletu'a, Baker (Insert: Sisters: Burt and Olson) It was HOT!

Dec. 11, 2023 Como District

Elders Gore (DL), Valley, Jones, Lioc; Sisters Afualo, Tonas

Dec. 11, 2023 Cloverdale District

Elders Tauhalaliku, Moala; Sisters Tahaafe, Ulberg, Lutui, Biribo

Dec. 27, 2023 North Coast and Yanchep Districts NEW TRANSFER (Lesson #2 - Healthy Thinking)

Sisters: Bartschi, Ballantyne, Royer-Tepa, Aiono, Toala, Speelmon; Elders: Ginn, Mahaffey, Kirby, Masima, Quesne, Putman

Dec. 27th, 2023 Heathridge and Joondalup Districts

(Janet) With this group today, I felt a great rush of love for the Polynesian missionaries. They are so beautiful and sweet. When I was born in a San Jose, California hospital, I was the only white baby among many other nationalities. My parents often told me about that and related how the hospital staff had no problem mixing me up with the other babies in the nursery.

Elders: Neumann, Batiri, Tehaamoana; Sisters: Willis, Ika, Larsen, Johns; Elders: Laulu, Tuilimu, Tupa, McDowell, Tauhalaliku; (Sister and Elder Kahmann in back)

DEPARTING MISSIONARY SEMINAR (Dec. 15, 2023)

Sister and Elder McDonald, Sister and Elder Grinceri

There's always some kind of issue going on with our old bodies. Tony went in the dentist and had to have an abscessed tooth pulled. Several days later, he felt something sharp in the hole in his mouth. There were some tooth shards (2) poking out. He asked me to pull them out. How fun is that? It was so satisfying. I got on my rubber gloves and used tweezers. I am an official dentist!

On December 19, 2023 Tony had a new pacemaker put in his chest. It went so well, he didn't have to stay over night in the hospital, for which we were grateful. Saved the church insurance a lot of money. This great insurance covered the whole procedure. He has recovered well, and is good to go for 10 more years.

The media sisters ask us to send in a picture of someone WHO LIGHTS UP YOUR WORLD:

Cute picture of Sister Olson, who loves to make bracelets and also did this painting for Elder Kahmann and I for Christmas. And beautiful Sister Stone.

Fun Adventures: For a date night, we visited the Perth Observatory and got to look at the planets, moon, and stars in the sky through 6 different telescopes. This was on our way there:

While we were walking around waiting for it to get dark, we thought we saw a Kookaburra. We put the sound of one on our phone and soon, the kookaburra flew in front of us and landed close by. It was really amazing.

We were able to gaze at 12 different targets in the night sky, through 6 different telescopes. We saw Jupiter and some of its moons, Saturn with its incredibly bright rings (which are only 60-90 meters thick!), the Orion constellation, and several others. As vast as the universe is, as this so beautifully reminded us, rather than feeling small and insignificant on our tiny planet Earth, we felt a reaffirming witness of God's Hand in the creation of Earth, with appreciation for all the miraculous features and properties that made it habitable by man; like the Book of Mormon, our planet is truly a marvelous work and a wonder. (Tony)

(Tony loves showing the time-lapse photography of the North Star in our lesson 1- ER training and the missionaries are awed by it, and realize how valuable having a NORTH STAR in their life really is)

Our terrific friends, the Jose's (our beloved WSR trainers). They are now serving over the service missionaries called to our mission.

As we left their home, we saw this nest in the tree and the mama bird feeding her young. It was so cute.

Our wonderful friends, the Sinclair's, took us on the most wonderful outing. They treated us to a fantastic dinner, then took us on a boat to see the Christmas lights on homes in the Mandurah harbor. It was spectacular! Rob and Melanie are stake WSR specialists.

(Rob, Melanie and their son Byron)

This was my favorite, because it said "Eternity". There were a few precious manger scenes among the millions of display of Christmas lights and adornments.

Enjoying our tomato crop in December!

Round 3! This is our best try yet. I think the plants need more root room. The bigger ones are supposed to be beef steak tomatoes.

Our walks in the beautiful parks in December

Swims in the pool in December (At least Janet did)

Christmas Eve with the Hadfields

The Hadfield's are a new couple from Provo. Elder Hadfield is over cars, and Sister Hadfield is the new office secretary. We spent Christmas Eve with them. We ate kangaroo steak and some fabulous salads, vegetables, and fruit. We watched the forgotten carols together! We sobbed. It was so wonderful. Between Christmas holiday and Tony's recovery from surgery, we have watched some keeper movies: Witnesses, the man who invented Christmas, Lucy Shimmers, Silent Night (a true WWII movie) and The fighting preacher. We've also had some fun games nights.

A simple, but spectacular Christmas

One of our Christmas miracles! Our landlord put in a wonderful split aircon. We will be so thankful as the temperature will get above 40 degrees C (104 degrees F) soon.

We wash and reuse a lot of sheets and dunas from the departing missionaries. 10-11 batches this transfer. (A duna is what goes over a quilt liner and makes a bedspread. This is how I am picking up the nickname for our new great granddaughter - Luna go duna go dinto faus (My dad's nick name for me as a child was jani go bani go dinto faus. -Janet)

These beautiful Tongan twin brothers, Great Pearl and Great Price Lene (and those are their real names), prepared an epic Christmas morning breakfast for a district of missionaries, and invited us and the Smith's (another senior couple). There was enough food for an army.

For Christmas lunch, we were invited to the City of Joondalup luncheon for people who have no where to go or who are alone without families. We sat at the Mayor's table with his family and President and Sister Stone. This is the mayor's wife and boys. The community loves the missionaries, because they set up and take down tables and equipment for over 500 people, and also entertain with music. That was a blast.

Unplanned twins: Me and Sister Stone Sister Smith in the middle

Then for dinner, we were invited to spend a wonderful evening with Jose and her husband Lance.

Lance, Josie, their friends , the new couple (the Hadfields who we just love), Hang (a new convert) and her husband Daniel. We had a yummy dinner, then visited Pinnaroo Cemetery.

Hang and Daniel

This was my highlight of Christmas Day. While we were at Pinnaroo Cemetery, Cindy noticed this beautiful Kookaburra in the old gum tree. She followed it while we were taking pictures of everyone. The Kookaburra went to where her grandparents were buried and she got this precious picture. Heavenly Father is mindful of us. He knows us personally and loves us.

A wonderful evening with Sue Brand and her sister Cecilia

A niece, Teresa, and her son Paul, came to their home, while we were there, due to an emergent situation of abuse. Tony was able to give Teresa a blessing. This is a piece of her artwork done on a real turtle shell. This is an extraordinary piece of art! The photo is a bit distorted because we shot through a plexiglass case. She is of Aboriginal decent.

OFF TO BUSSLETON

We enjoyed our time with the wonderful senior couple, the Metcalf's, in Busselton. Along with speaking in the branch and training on family councils during the second hour, we took some time to play and visit some fun places. The Metcalf's rolled out the royal carpet and fed us like kings. We visited a chocolate factory, walked on the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere, enjoyed the shops and lunch in Margaret River, and LOVED Cowtown (Cowaramup) - lots of the towns here end with "up" named by Aboriginals. We played some fun games, watched a tear jerking movie called "Lucy Shimmers". We were totally entertained by Elder Metcalf's magic tricks, balloon tieing and violin talents, and Sister Metcalf's cooking- best food we've tasted in Australia!

Trever and Lili Metcalf serving in Busselton. They are from New South Wales.

The Busselton Jetty is the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere, at 1 mile (1.7 km). They have a train but we walked. Lots of fishermen along the way, plus several swimming platforms . The water is super clear.

Me - symbolically giving Meagan (my daughter-in-law) a hug of support, comfort and adoration for preparing to bring their 8th child into the world. (Janet)

Making honeycomb in the candy cow store. Delicious!

Sister Frey and Sister Olson and the Metcalf's all serving in Busselton. We came home New Year's Eve, as we had to do 2 emotional resilience trainings the next morning on New Year's Day. We had some great relaxing times with many dinners, friends, the ward party. So many kindnesses and thoughtful gifts. We just feel so blessed and loved.

This is the Perth Temple on the front. (Hyrum sent us a picture as we didn't see the finished product )

Fun story behind our golden coins.

When we went to the Perth Mint last month with the senior couples, I was so excited that they offered coins that we could personalize. I wanted to do one for all of our children and grandchildren to go along with the music powerpoint that Cindy brilliantly helped us create. With the shipping, the coins were quite pricey making it an astronomical price for all the people in our family. So we went a back and asked if we could get a discount if we purchased a big number of them. They told us there would be if we got over 500. So I was able to contact a place in West Virginia that made coins and would give us a substantial discount on over 100. We got 2 other couples who were excited about making coins for their children and grandchildren, which got us the discount. Although is took a lot of time and late night communications due to time zone difference the final cost came out to be 1/5th the cost of Perth mint coins and a better quality coin. We were over the moon!

Looks like we play a lot! But we do work very hard. We love our daily personal and companion studies. We have done some awesome trainings with ward counsels the last few months, particularly training on the use of the self-reliance plan form. As a Mental Health counselor for the mission, Sister Kahmann does a lot of counseling with individual missionaries. Elder Kahmann gives a lot of blessings requested by missionaries. He is the master scheduler for all the trainings, speaking assignments and traveling we have to do. December has been a really fun and celebratory month in appreciating our Savior and all that He has done for each one of us. We love serving on a mission together. We have come to love so many people in this beautiful country and mission.